The Girl in the Alley
by cosettedaae
Summary: The Doctor meets a fellow Timelord the girl from the astronaut suit in an alley. Takes place immediately after "The Day of the Moon."


The first time The Doctor saw her it was from a distance. He didn't think anything of it. He saw children in distress all the time but unfortunately couldn't help all of them. She looked homeless; alone, shivering and coughing in the alley. He wanted so desperately to help her.

"Come on Doctor!" hollered Amy from inside the TARDIS. "We've gotta go!"

"Just a minute," he said but not loud enough to disturb the child. He shut the door to the TARDIS softly hoping his companions wouldn't notice and walked cautiously towards the little girl. He took each step with such precise care. For some reason that he couldn't quite identify, he didn't want the girl to notice him. Though she must have. A strange man emerging from a blue box was bound to catch anyone's attention eventually.

The Doctor swore for a minute that she saw him, just out of the corner of her eye. But she didn't react at all. A lot of people must come through and not pay any notice to her and she must have figured The Doctor to be no exception.

A noise came from the TARDIS. The door swung open rapidly and The Doctor froze in place. "Doctor!" It was Rory this time. The Doctor shot his head around and shushed Rory. Rory made an apologetic face and responded in a loud whisper. "Amy's getting antsy Doctor, can you please hurry?"

"I'll be there in a minute," the Doctor whispered back. He snapped his fingers, forcing the TARDIS doors to close on Rory's face. He heard a squeal of pain in response. "Oops. Amy can handle that."

The Doctor continued walking towards the little girl, whom he began to hear faint cries coming from.

"Hello," he said to her when he was only a few yards away. "Hello, can you hear me?"

She didn't respond but from her movement he could tell she had heard him. He approached her with care and crouched down in front of the box she was seated on.

"Hello there," he said to her as she lifted her head and looked at the strange man in front of her. "Why are you crying?"

She looked down and a few more tears dripped from her eyes. From what the Doctor could tell, she couldn't have been more than nine or ten years old. Then again, she was very thin so it was hard to tell.

"Shh," he coaxed, "don't cry. I can help you."

"No one can help me," she lifted her head and gave the Doctor a menacing glare. "Especially you!"

"Do you know me?" he said and she bowed her head and more tears fell from her young eyes. She nodded. "Do I know you?" She nodded again. "Then how come I don't recognize you? I never forget a face."

She began to sob again. "That's the problem!" she gasped through her cries. "I've changed but I still feel the same. How come I'm not better? Is that how it works for me? I just die and come back over and over again?"

"What are you talking about?" The Doctor said, taking a step back in confusion.

"Why don't you run? Everyone else does," she said. The Doctor fiddled his pockets for his screwdriver realizing he'd left it in the TARDIS. He crouched back down in front of her and placed his hand on her forehead.

"You're not ill, you're only frightened," he concluded. "You're not dying either. What do you mean when you say you've changed?"

She looked up with a terrible fear in her eyes, "I don't understand it either." She coughed and exhaled a golden cloud of small particles glowing and flowing through the air. The Doctor's eyes widened and it felt as if at least one of his hearts had stopped beating for a moment.

"Regeneration particles," he said breathlessly. "Who are you? Where did you come from?"

"I don't remember." She sounded sincere. The Doctor placed one of his hands on her chest, feeling for a heartbeat. On the left side of her chest sat a heart beating rapidly with fear. He shifted his hand to the right and to his surprise felt another heart beating equally as fast as the first.

"You're a Timelord? Err… a Timelady! A Timechild?" he felt ecstatic. Another one of his kind on planet Earth. "How did you get here? What are you doing here?"

"I'm trying to find my mummy," she paused and focused on the Doctor's face. "Are you like me, too?"

"Yes, yes I am. Do you know me? Have you seen me before?"

"Yes. You were with her when she shot at me."

"With who? Who shot at you?" Just at that moment the sound of the TARDIS doors flung open and Amy Pond stood in the doorway.

"Doctor!" she hollered. "I think you broke Rory's nose."

"Not very to miss that thing, now is it?" he muttered under his breath. "Go back inside Amy, I'll be there in a minute."

"Who is that out there, Doctor?"

"Go back inside Amy!" he demanded and she followed his orders.

"You're her friend aren't you?" said the little girl, solemnly.

"Yes. Do you know her?"

"I found her and she tried to kill me," the little girl began weeping again.

The Doctor leaned in very closely to the girls face. He felt as if it was okay to be harsh with her because she was one of his kind. He felt this odd bond with her. "Tell me what you're talking about right now," he demanded

He hoped she felt the same bond with him and responded with honesty. She leaned in closer and their faces almost touched. "No," she said bluntly. "Leave me alone!" She stood up and marched further down the alley.

The Doctor fell into a sitting position and sighed. "Come back here please!" he hollered. She ignored him and walked faster. "Tell me your name, at least. Mine's The Doctor!"

She stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him. "Without a doubt Doctor, we'll see each other again." She gave him one final look and sprinted down the alley.

The Doctor stood up and ran his hands over his face. It was no use chasing her; she wouldn't listen to anything he said anyways. She was the only Timelord on Earth; he was bound to run into her sooner or later.

When he reached the TARIDS he noticed Rory reclining on a seat and Amy tending to his injured nose.

"Doctor, who was that?" asked Amy.

"Or a better question – Doctor, can you fix Rory's nose?" Rory said, a bit upset.

"Oh, yes! Terribly sorry, Rory." He picked up his screwdriver off the control panels of the TARDIS and aimed it at Rory's nose.

"Are you sonicing my nose?" Rory said, nearly laughing. The Doctor smiled in return.

"There, that should fix it."

The Doctor went to the center of the TARDIS and flicked some switches. Amy approached the Doctor, leaving Rory to tend to his own nose, and spoke softly to him. "Doctor, you never said, who was that little girl?"

"No one we need to worry about now," he said and walked a bit to his left, trying to avoid Amy.

"Is she an alien?"

"Not as alien as I would've hoped," he leaned his back against the wall and sighed. "Come on Ponds! Where to next?"


End file.
